


the kids aren't alright

by Werepirechick



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Baron Draxum Raises The Turtles, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF April O'Neil, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Moral Ambiguity, Unethical Experimentation, Violence, bc at heart the boys are good kids, being a super soldier experiment is uhhhh, check the trigger warnings for the 2nd chapt, dark themes, in like the span of five minutes, kind of a dark turtle au but not really, not fun, note: splinter is not dead! he's just indisposed of rn, things escalated whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2020-08-11 20:43:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20159809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werepirechick/pseuds/Werepirechick
Summary: “You really, really shouldn’t be here,” it- he?- says gravely, voice young and nervous. He has a mask over his eyes, black, and a loincloth-shorts combo like goatman was wearing. Rows of small blades and unidentifiable weapons are strapped to him, going over one shoulder. In the monochrome grey and black of everything else, the bright orange spots that pattern his limbs and shell stand out.He stands slowly, not attacking, but not putting down his bladed wire-weapon either. “D’you even know what happens to humans brought here? What Draxum does tointruders?”April skips her shock at yet another talking monster- the novelty is wearing off at this point. She keeps her club raised and firmly replies, “I don’t care. Goatman’s got my friend and I’m not leaving here without them.”





	1. initial au oneshot

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this on my ipad whilst traveling recently, so excuse any mistakes or missed typos, and the quality in general?
> 
> i made myself kinda sad while writing this but it was worth it.

April rips a legging as she lands, she just knows she does, feeling the awful sensation of skinning her knees as she rolls. It’s by virtue of pure instinct that she dives to the side to hide behind a stone pillar right after, not even pausing to catch her breath. The wackos with their killer dogs are so close nearby that she’s not really sure how she managed to escape detection.

Probably because her little cat-dog friend is screeching their head off inside their bubble prison. For such a small creature, they’re sure loud.

April, hidden from sight for the moment, sucks in a breath and takes in her surroundings. What she sees steals her breath all over again.

Craggy cliffs are dotted with ancient looking buildings- torchlight flickering in windows and tangled roots clutching roofs. A city sprawls in the distance, made up of those, and even from far away April can see that the residents walking and flying and climbing around that city are definitively _not human._

_“Ohhhhh my god,”_ she whispers in awe to herself. Her first impulse is to grab her phone- no one will ever _believe_\- but the heavy, scraping steps moving away from her hiding spot remind her of her priorities.

Right. Rescue her little friend, avoid getting caught, and get the hell out of dodge. Real simple plan in theory, but probably not in practice.

April is a lot of things- socially awkward, a bad employee, kinda lonely- but she’s anything but a _coward._ Squaring her courage, April slips out from behind the pillar and hides behind the next, trailing the freaky dudes and their massive dogs… right up to a veritable castle tower, with a vibe that screams _danger._

Well, April didn’t get her Gryffindor sorting on that buzzfeed quiz for nothing.

April rushes (sneakily) inside.

-/-

The honest to god secret passageways in this place are pretty easy to navigate. April thinks they should be more complex, or maybe boobytrapped at least, so intruders can’t just waltz around like she is. Not that she’s complaining about the waltzing, the waltzing has been very convenient.

It’s just not as excitingly challenging? Kind of anticlimactic.

She finds her lil friend within the first ten minutes of poking around. They’re caged by a scary guy that looks like a cross between a goat and a wrestler, whose monologueing masks April’s footfalls as she skirts around the room. There are two small gargoyles flying around goatman- _Baron?_ Uh uh, she’s not calling him a title, pompous asshole. All of them are speaking plain English, which is the least weird thing in this situation, but still. It’s weird.

April studies the layout of the room- she can make the jump no problem- but the rescue mission won’t work if she doesn’t have an escape plan following her initial assault. She needs a weapon, and possibly a distraction to get the monsters away from her friend.

April is very pleased that with the next secret tunnel she takes- seriously, such a security hazard- she finds a whole _atrium_ of weapons.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” she says to herself, grinning as she advances on the first rack.

Does she know how to use any of these? Nope. They don’t cover sword fighting or melee or magical items in public schools. But it can’t be that hard, right? Keep the stabby end aimed at her enemy, don’t stab herself in the process, etc.

As she examines the stock of deadly arms, April wonders if she’s taking this all in stride too easily. In books and movies, people tend to freak out way more when they find out magic and monsters are real. _Then again,_ she thinks as she admires a hefty club glowing acid green, _I always thought those people were wimps._

Besides, this is New York. She’s seen plenty scarier things on the A-train than goatman and his sidekicks.

Absorbed in her pep talk with herself, April doesn’t hear a soft landing on the stone floor behind her. She does, however, hear the whisk of wire being extended.

Swinging with her full strength, April spins and aims for the head of the person creeping up on her. She gets nothing but air and a startled noise as her target disappears.

The person behind her is headless.

April screams once and tries to hit it again, only for the headless body to jump out of the way.

“Jesus, girl! I’m just trying to-” April swings a third and fourth time, ignoring the voice coming from _inside its torso._ The green-skinned headless monster abruptly dives downwards and somersaults away, it’s shell curve aiding the maneuver. As it comes to a stop and turns to face her again, a head pops out of the space between its shoulders.

April stops, meeting the glare of the monster. It’s grimacing, crouching low and twining the sturdy wire of its weapon around its few fingers.

“You really, really shouldn’t be here,” it- he?- says gravely, voice young and nervous. He has a mask over his eyes, black, and a loincloth-shorts combo like goatman was wearing. Rows of small blades and unidentifiable weapons are strapped to him, going over one shoulder. In the monochrome grey and black of everything else, the bright orange spots that pattern his limbs and shell stand out.

He stands slowly, not attacking, but not putting down his bladed wire-weapon either. “D’you even know what happens to humans brought here? What Draxum does to _intruders?”_

April skips her shock at yet another talking monster- the novelty is wearing off at this point. She keeps her club raised and firmly replies, “I don’t care. Goatman’s got my friend and I’m not leaving here without them.”

“You mean the-?” He shakes his head, short mask tails flicking. “It doesn’t matter, you gotta go before it’s too late. You can’t help your friend now.”

“And if I say hell no?”

“Then- then I’ll have to knock you out and take you to him!” he declares, but April can hear his heart’s not in it.

“So why give me a chance to escape,” April asks carefully, “if you’d turn me in anyway?”

The turtle monster’s momentary fierceness fades, dark eyes averted. He chews his lip, conflict in his expression, before answering, “I’m not gonna turn an intruder in if she’s gone before I can catch her. Please? It’s super not fun to be a mutation experiment, trust me. Go back up to- to above, okay? I won’t say anything if you leave now.”

The desperate undertone to his words makes April pause, reconsidering. But she shakes that off a second later.

“I’m not going back. Not until I have my friend.”

The turtle monster stares at her for a beat, and then tosses his head back and makes a supremely annoyed groan. April lowers her weapon slowly as he stomps in a small circle, muttering to himself. Huh. The air of danger he’d had at first is totally dispelled; he reminds her of neighborhood kids more than anything, now.

Weird choice of bad guy sidekick. A little fucked up, maybe, if the monster is really as young as he acts.

“Ugh god FINE,” says the turtle, stopping his pacing and pointing a finger at her. “This is the last time I ever do this, I _swear.”_

_“_Do what?” April questions, eyebrow raised.

“Help you humans!”

“Uh, I’ve never been here before-?”

“Not you! Just- ugh, c’mon, let’s go before anyone else finds you.”

April is bemused, now, by the turtle monster. So he’s done this before? Trusting him to help her is probably a bad idea, but that fact gives her some hope it’ll turn out alright in the end. One more bad decision is no big deal with the night she’s had.

“Sure, let’s go,” April agrees finally, swinging her club up to rest against her shoulder. She sticks out a hand to the turtle- who flinches minutely at the gesture. April continues without commenting. “I’m April by the way. Thanks for not taking me to your evil overlord, I guess?”

“I’m f- I’m, um, Mikey. You can call me Mikey.” He gingerly takes her hand, eyeing it and her like it might be a sneak attack. “And he’s a Baron, not an overlord. Baron Draxum.”

“Could’a fooled me,” April says with a shrug, dropping Mikey’s hand. “Y’all got hella evil mad scientist vibes.”

“Haha, yeah, kinda…” Mikey glances around awkwardly, before nodding a direction. “C’mon, someone’s gonna miss me sooner or later. Let’s just- get this over with.”

“What kinda plan you got?” April asks as they start moving. Mikey takes her over to a different corner of the room, far from where April entered.

“Uh, distraction, maybe? Or I could- no, he’ll notice, ugh- fuck, I don’t know.” He sighs as he presses on a trigger disguised as a stone, the wall grinding open gradually. “You wouldn’t happen to be a kunoichi by any chance?”

“A kuno what now.”

“Guess not.”

April rolls her eyes, underwhelmed by Mikey’s evil henchman skills. He sees her do so and he scowls, sticking out his tongue. April lets out a gigglesnort in surprise, caught off-guard by the childish annoyance.

Her laughter dies as she sees a figure looming in the newly opened passageway. At April’s sharp intake of breath, Mikey spins and makes a strangled squeak.

“Shit,” April says, getting her club ready.

“Uh, hi, I was- we were- it’s not what it looks like?” Mikey says in a rush.

The huge monster steps partially out of the passageway, towering over both of them. Clothes like Mikey’s, but with ragged tears in spots, and none of the hin knives the smaller monster has. And with the scars dotting his rough scales, his shit brickhouse form, the snaggled-tooth fangs he has- he’s lot more imposing than Mikey had been.

The much more threatening looking turtle stares at them both with yellow sclera for a long moment. Then, he sighs.

“Mike… please, not again.”

-/-

“Sorry?” Mikey says in a tight voice, one Raph has heard more times than he can remember.

Things had been looking up, what with the agent being returned and the first experiments taking place- Raph had been hoping they get some downtime, enjoy the Baron’s good mood for a few days. If Draxum is happy, they get to be happy.

The human girl glaring daggers at him right now throws that all into jeapordy.

But Mikey picked her- he’s decided to try and save her, which counts for _something_\- so there’s nothing for it. Raph isn’t going to even try convincing Mikey to change his mind; either Raph helps, or he steps back and watches Mikey face the punishment he’ll get all alone.

God, Raph is so tired. He misses winter, when he’s allowed to just sleep for days in a row.

But that’s months away and Mikey needs him right now. Moving his eyes to the human girl, Raph sizes her up. Just from how she’s meeting his gaze and standing her ground, he can tell she’s a fighter. Hell, he can’t even tell if she’s scared or not. That’s serious guts right there.

“We’ll talk later,” Raph says softly, looking around them. He’s the only one who noticed Mikey slipping away from the big breakthrough celebration. He’s hoping that lasts. “Crazy girl, you ready to haul ass once we get you outside?”

Mikey’s face lights up, a smile following. He doesn’t smile anywhere near as much as he should, in Raph’s opinion. This is going to bite him later, but right now, making his littlest brother happy is worth it.

But then crazy girl says, “Oh hell no, I told the same thing to your buddy here. I ain’t leaving without my friend.”

He frowns at her. Of course she isn’t going to go easy. “What, the delivery guy?” Raph asks. “He’s already imitation crab bits, dude. If you hurry you’ll catch him.”

“Not him,” Mikey says, same time as the girl says, “The white guy? You should let him go, too, but I’m here for the little guy.”

The little guy? Oh, she’s not- nope, Raph sees her expression and knows she’s a hundred percent serious. Damn it. She _had _to want the most difficult to retrieve prisoner.

Raph counts to ten and bites down on his temper before it rises. Damn it, damn it, damn it. “Oh, of course, yeah that’s great. Love it. Let’s do this before Don finds out and uses crazy girl as his newest project.”

“I got a _name, _dude.”

“Does it matter?” She opens her mouth. “Don’t answer that. It doesn’t.”

“She’s April,” Mikey says, winding his kusarifundo’s wire around his fingers, a habit of nervousness. “She almost took my head off with that club.”

The last part is said in an admiring sort of way and Raph feels exasperated. No matter how many times he’s told otherwise, Mikey can’t quite get that yes, _all_ humans are bad, not just most of them.

…But maybe that’s because part of Raph hasn’t ever really gotten that, either; he’s the one setting the example, after all.

“Sorry, you spooked me,” April says, and the apology is almost sincere sounding. Raph side-eyes her, mildly surprised. Humans always scream or run when they see them, they don’t say sorry for defending themselves.

He shakes off the interest he’s developing in the human girl. At least one of them has to have his head on right, which means he can’t indulge in thinking of April as anything but a potential threat.

(He privately looks at her sharp red glasses, her sharper stare, the fearless attitude she’s taken with stealing from one of the Underground’s most powerful figures- and he thinks she’s, maybe, just a little bit really cool.)

Raph ushers both of them into the passage, eager to just get on with the dangerous endeavor.

-/-

With three party members, it’s not too hard. The snarling yokai in their cage isn’t useful any longer to Draxum, so Raph just has to direct attention to the other side of the room. It’s simple until Raph sees Leo come back from wherever he’d been. It’s simple until he sees April and Mikey doing something with the controls of the lab core. It’s simple until he sees Leo noticing the duo, until the warning lights on the core start flashing without noise, alarms disabled.

Raph locks eyes with Leo, who holds his gaze for a long, long moment. Raph silently begs _please, let this go, I won’t say anything about you letting it go just PLEASE, Leo- _

And Leo cocks his head, giving a lazy hooded stare. He looks between his options, cradling his arm close in its sling. A bad fall, last training session. When it’s better, Draxum’s promised to double Leo’s workload to get rid of that weakness.

Leo’s blank expression becomes a leery smile, shrugging. He doesn’t care about this, same as he never cares about anything other than staying in good graces and slacking off chores. The look he shoots over his shoulder, as he walks back out, says _I won’t forget this. _Oh well, better Raph owe his brother a favor than Mikey get in trouble.

In his distraction, Draxum has lost interest in the bullshit plans Raph threw together, in danger of turning around and _seeing. _But Donnie jabs a spider leg into the paper and says, “Ra- subject one is wrong. We should hit the figureheads of the population before we move onto the masses. Wall Street is the best starting point based on my calculation of how to induce swift widespread panic.”

“Hm, you make a good point, subject two,” Draxum says thoughtfully, refocusing on the plans.

“Of course I do,” Donnie scoffs derisively, the only one of them so bold to take that tone with the Baron. Raph doesn’t even care he’s been showed up, Mikey and April are safe (for the moment).

And then the alarms finally kick in, the vine tree and the ooze and the mosquitos all lighting up bright neon, and it all goes to hell.

-/-

Mikey probably should have known April wouldn’t be okay with the whole ‘_conquer humanity via mass mutation’._

Still, she didn’t have to blow up their home.

The last thing he sees of her is the human clutching her tiny friend close- the upwards curled fangs of the creature makes Mikey think _dragons _and sends a shiver through his shell- and the two of them looking to him.

April mouths something lost in the noise of the room collapsing around them, but Mikey thinks she’s saying _thank you_ as her furry ball of mayhem teleports them away.

From his hiding place, Mikey sighs. At least they got out. At least he wasn’t anywhere close by when the alarms started. At least their dorms weren’t caught in the destruction…?

Ah, shit. He sees Baron Draxum clawing his way out from under a slab of concrete. Raph is helping as much as he’s able and getting yelled at for it. Leo is leaning in a lab doorway, looking on in languid amusement. Donnie has lifted himself up on his extra legs and is poking through the rubble of their ‘greatest triumph’.

Mikey decides he should make an appearance and creeps out of the alcove he’d shoved himself into, nimbly gripping with his hands and feet both as he lowers himself. Scampering to ground level, he puts on his best clueless/panicked expression and lies about having gone for refreshments.

Later, perched up on the edge of the roof, Mikey stares at the dome ceiling of the Underground and wonders how he got away with it all. He’d been expecting at any second to get caught. Somehow, against the odds, on such an important night no less… he pulled it off.

Mikey feels a wave of heavy relief all at once and lets out a loud sigh, flopping over. Boy, what a night, what a _freaking night._

He lays with his eyes closed for a while, legs dangling over thin air and a seven story drop. The city near and distant is noisy, but muted, and the air smells like acridic burning vines. Draxum is still storming around downstairs, furiously trying to salvage his projects, and Mikey is good out here, thanks. He wasn’t implicated by what happened at all, so he doesn’t plan to stick around and catch the brunt of that frustrated ranting.

Sometime later, the sound of mechanical joints moving together approaches him. Mikey opens his eyes to see Donnie standing over him, having climbed up the side of the tower.

“Sup,” Mikey says, not flinching as Donnie’s spider legs lift him over his body.

“Hey,” Donnie says tonelessly, which is an unusually subdued greeting, even for him.

“Somethin’ up?”

“Not really. Just our, you know, creator and owner violently grieving the ruination of his life’s work. I put out some fires, salvaged a few samples of mutagen, the like, just fun family bonding stuff.”

Mikey doesn’t let his unease show. Donnie’s words are flippant, but he still has no inflection or emotion. “That’s… sucky,” Mikey says, forcing away his need to fidget with his ‘fundo. “I mean, jeez, talk about a setback. Who knows how long it’ll take to catch all those skeetos, eh?”

“Mhm,” Donnie replies, lowering himself onto the stone roof beside Mikey, legs folded in a cross. “He’ll probably have to take completely new samples of our DNA to synthesize everything all over again, if we don’t catch them all.”

Mikey’s arms feel itchy just thinking about it. He scratches at the pockmark scars in his elbow, trying to not remember the biotech vines sucking pints of blood from his veins.

“Yeah,” Mikey says sullenly, “guess he probably will.”

They sit silently for a beat. Mikey stews in guilt and trepidation, knowing it’s his fault they’ll be going through this because he let himself be weak. He should’ve captured April and dragged her down to the Baron, shouldn’t have faltered at how brave and kind she was, trying to save her friend, he shouldn’t have-

“She got home safe.”

Mikey’s thoughts derail. He sits up a little too quickly to be casual, staring at Donnie. His brother, who doesn’t care about humans, who wears hints of purple like Draxum, who has happily combined his body with biotech to make it stronger- he has a carefully emotionless mask in place, Mikey sees that now. Donnie _feels, _just as much as any of them. He just never admits it.

He’s scared. Donnie is scared of something.

“…Really?” Mikey asks after a too-long pause.

“I had a drone follow up on the profile I found online. She’s home with her new pet.” Donnie makes an aborted motion with his hands, and then goes through with it and takes off his mask, rubbing his face and scalp. Without the near-black purple bandana, Donnie looks as tired as Raph often does.

“How badly did you want her to escape?” Donnie asks in a quiet mumble, eyes fixed elsewhere. “Badly enough for this? To risk-?”

“Yes,” Mikey says without hesitation.

That makes Donnie stutter, mouth twisting in a scowl. He recovers, hissing, “It’s_ inevitable,_ Mikey. Draxum is going to beat humanity, and we’re going to help him, this setback is just that. A _setback._ We’ll get the carriers back, or- or make more, and it _will happen. _You’ve just prolonged it all, this didn’t change anything.”

“It changed things for her!” Mikey snaps without meaning to. Donnie glares, but he doesn’t cower. “…It changed things for her,” he repeats, calmer. “She got to go home, her friend got to go with her. Humans don’t have to get wiped out for another few months at least.”

Donnie pulls a face, scoffing. “Why do you care about some random human girl? They keep us down here Mikey, it’s _their fault_ Draxum made us and- _uses _us.”

“Her name is April,” Mikey says plainly, fingers finding his kusarifundo and winding it’s wire tight around his thumb.

_“…‘Her name is April’,” _Donnie mimics, disgusted. But he doesn’t say anything more, just sitting and glaring and being his typical prickly self. Mikey winds his wires tighter, tighter, tighter; thinking about faint memories of Donnie being softer and letting them closer, somewhere warm and safe. Somewhere not here.

But that’s a dream, unreal in his earliest memories, conjured by wanting for comfort when he didn’t get any.

“I hope this was worth it for you,” Donnie says eventually, back to his toneless voice. “We’re covering, but… this can’t happen again, okay? None of us can do this anymore, we’re too close to the finish line.”

Mikey nods, unwinding his wire from throbbing fingers. “I know. Um, thanks.”

“Mm,” Donnie says, not acknowledging he’s done anything. Mikey slides his bruised fingers over to lightly poke his brother’s, invitation unspoken.

A moment of decision, whether he’s pissed off still or having a no-touching day Mikey isn’t sure, Donnie moves his hand and links their fingers together. It’s apology and forgiveness in a single, wordless gesture.

-/-

Pacing the length of his cell, pink clawed toes clacking on the stone, someone bides his time impatiently. His sentence is near completion, he’s been given recommendation for early release for good behavior. It’ll be simple to ditch his parole officier’s watch, even after nearly ten years out of the game.

A former man and current mutant prisoner, in situation and body both, looks to the small window of his cell, and swears not for the first time that Draxum _will _pay for what he’s done, and for what he plans to do.

(He wonders, also, whatever happened to his children. He worries, nightly, daily, constantly. What did Draxum do to his four sons, the unexpected saving grace he’d hidden away for almost five years? Are they alive? Do they know _he’s _alive?)

Lou paces his cell faster, tail lashing, barely keeping the splinters inside himself from cutting deeper still.

-/-

Somewhere in an ordinary New York neighborhood, in an ordinary apartment complex, an ordinary girl lays on her bed with her new fuzzy friend and thinks to herself, _hey, what the fuck was that._

She has no answers for herself. Well. If nothing else, she got her parents to let her little pal stay. After the insanity said pal got her into tonight, April is deeply relieved to have something go according to plan. (Is ‘insanity’ a good pet name? Maybe ‘chaos’? Ugh, she’ll keep workshopping it.)

When she goes to bed, much later on, and sleeps fitfully and shallowly, April somehow thinks that’s the end of it. She has a new roommate, there’s an underground city full of monsters and magic, and there’s a history test tomorrow that she didn’t study for. The only next step she has is _go back to normal, pretend it didn’t happen._

So, she does. And nothing else weird happens for a few days, other than Mayhem teleporting into her school bag despite her telling them they should be at _home,_ jesus, she doesn’t need detention on top of her homework pile and job searches,

Things resume normalcy, almost mind-numbingly so… until there’s a knock on her window about a week after it all, and a freckled scaly face peering through it.

-/-

“Uh, hi?”

“…Hi.”

“Sorry to- I was just passing through so I thought- I’m, uh, glad you’re doing okay! I’ll go now I’m sorry I shouldn’t’ve-”

“Hey, hey, no, just hold on.”

“What?”

“…You wanna come say hi to Mayhem, too? They’re, um. They’re doing okay, too.”

“I’d… yeah! Yeah, I’d, yes, I’d love to. Thanks. Could you just, um, move sideways a little-?”

A window on a third story apartment home slides shut. Behind its hastily shut curtains, a cautious friendship is born.


	2. fallout boy(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Since you’re here already, I don’t see why I should put things off any longer. Come with me; you may witness the price subject one and four will pay for continuing to lie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warnings for this new oneshot! click to the notes below for 'em.
> 
> and bon soir, i did say i'd be back to add to this au. alternate title to this oneshot is In Which Consequences Catch Up To Mikey (& Everyone Else)

Mikey shouldn’t have let himself fall into a routine. Shouldn’t have let the temptation to visit his secret human friend draw him aboveground so often. But April is warm smiles and bright laughter and snort-giggles when he does something that makes her laugh and- and-

He just likes it a lot, okay? Being around someone like her. Someone kind, clever, brash and unabashed… Someone amazing.

So, Mikey has been visiting, for weeks now, ever since they met. He’s been taking the times he sees her and tucking them away in his chest, hiding them, collecting the stolen moments bit by bit. Stocking up before they run out and all he’s got left are the memories.

He got greedy. Careless. The Baron has eyes _everywhere,_ knows everything about them. And the few things they squirrel away for themselves? Well… Huginn and Muninn aren’t just for pep talks and errands.

Stupid, stupid mistake, forgetting to check for beady red eyes following him from the castle. As Mikey struggles in the vines clamped around his body, he asks himself the same question Donnie asked him, on the first night.

_Was it worth it?_

He thinks of nibbling on pop-tarts, sat on a soft bedroom carpet with even softer lights above his head. Listening to April narrate the intricate social rules of _high school,_ and popular versus unpopular, and how she keeps getting tongue-tied trying to talk to cute girls.

_Yeah,_ Mikey thinks to himself, going limp in resignation. It was worth it, to him at least.

“I don’t recall giving you permission to leave, subject four,” Draxum says, stepping out from the shadows. Huginn is the only gargoyle perched on his shoulder, currently, and Mikey scowls at the little snitch.

Huginn gives him a shrug and an indifferent look. _What did you expect me to do?_ Keeping tabs on the four prized experiments is one of the highest priorities; duh, Mikey’s missing presence would be noted eventually.

“I was just goin’ for a walk,” Mikey says. He doesn’t wince when the vines tighten around his limbs.

Draxum regards him with that yellow eyed stare of his, calculating and evaluating. Inside a cage or not, Mikey is ever a science experiment. He’s far too used to being looked at like this, so it doesn’t intimidate him (much).

“That’s not what _we_ heard,” Huginn says, smirking. Mikey’s blood goes from cold to frigid at that.

No, no, they were careful, they’re _always_ careful about where they talk. No way they know, they _can’t_ know it wasn’t just Mikey-

(Except, today, tempers running high and-)

Huginn ignores Mikey’s stricken expression. He sidles closer to Draxum’s ear. “Muninn and I overheard Michelangelo and Raphael talking about a trip _upstairs,_ so to speak. The big guy didn’t want him to go… said something about it being too dangerous to visit someone.”

Draxum looks at Mikey again. It’s too late to hide the fear in his eyes, if there were any point to that at all. Draxum knows. He knows and Mikey just screwed over his brother because he got sloppy.

“Hm. Then this is a conversation better held at home, don’t you think?” Draxum says, low and threatening. “Subject one should be present with us for it, after all, seeing as he’s involved.”

“He didn’t do anything!” Mikey blurts hurriedly. “I promise it’s all on me, I’m the one who wanted to go above, I tricked Raph into letting me.”

“Then he should be punished, for being so stupid and easily manipulated.” The Baron flicks a claw and brings Mikey closer, vines still pinning him. Mikey does wince away, this time, under the narrow gaze of his creator and owner.

“Perhaps… I could overlook that, though,” Draxum says, “should you tell me just _who_ you were going to meet in the _human’s_ city.”

Mikey’s heart clenches painfully, mind supplying images of Draxum getting a hold of April and Mayhem, of them being dragged down to the Hidden City and into the labs. He sees them in cages and enduring worse experiments than even Mikey and his brothers have and he. He can’t.

“…I wasn’t meeting anyone,” Mikey lies, and feels horrible for taking Raph down with him in this.

Draxum scoffs. “Be that way, then. You and your _brother-”_ (he always says ‘brother’ like a mockery, like it’s pointless) “-will share your punishment.”

Mikey doesn’t bother with protests or struggles again. He’s taken back ‘home’, and the knowledge that April won’t be discovered is only somewhat comforting.

-/-

“Did you two know anything about this?”

Leo doesn’t look at the tendrils of veiny, steel-strong vines curling across the floor. He keeps his eyes forward and posture relaxed. Beside him, Donnie stands with a vaguely annoyed expression, pulled away from working with the new mutagen formulas.

“No,” Donnie says flatly.

“Nope,” Leo says flippantly.

Draxum stares them both down. Leo pretends to stifle a yawn; Donnie just stares right back.

They pass the test, the suspicious gaze lifted off them as Draxum deems them trustworthy. “Very well. You are not to see subjects one or four until told otherwise, as they’ve been sentenced to isolation. For the time being.”

“What’d they do?” Leo asks casually, feigning disinterest.

“If you must know, ask Muninn and Huginn.”

The Baron dismisses them. Walking the winding halls of the castle, they wait until they’ve reached a different level to speak.

“I told him to stop,” Donnie says under his breath, angrily glaring ahead.

“Like he was gonna,” Leo replies, lacing his fingers behind his head.

“It was stupid. And dangerous. Just- _why._”

“It’s not as cut n’ dry for him as it is for you, Donald.”

Donnie huffs. They lapse into quiet, mulling over their thoughts as they wander aimlessly. Donnie hadn’t really been working all that hard on his projects; Leo had just been napping in the windowsill of the lab. They don’t exactly have anywhere to be in a hurry.

“…Wanna find out what’s gonna happen to them?”

Leo phrases it like it’s just something to kill time, a whim of boredom. Not as a serious, gripping anxiety that Raph and Mikey are in deep shit and in _isolation,_ they all _know_ what being left alone for too long does to Raph, what is Draxum planning with that, it takes _hours_ sometimes to calm their strongest and most physically dangerous brother back down, and the sneaking out Mikey has been doing is a serious offense what is the _angle_ here-

“Sure,” Donnie says, bland as can be. They’re on the same page, then.

Veering, they make it down to the main level and seek out the lounge. Predictably, Huginn and Muninn are in their dog bed, sipping drinks by the cozy fire.

Leo sometimes wants to feel sorry for the gargoyles; the Baron might treat him and his brothers like they’re nothing but experiments (which they are), but at least they get to sleep in real beds. The hired help sleep in a _dog bed._

Then again, they seem happy with their arrangements. Maybe Leo just needs to learn better to be grateful for what he has, and submit to his place in the order of the world.

(Maybe he should just take his brothers and portal them somewhere far, far away- but no, no, he’d find them, it’d just make things worse. The invisible threads of magic woven around their necks and wrists would activate and then-)

This is just how things are. Leo has to be content with what slacking and snide comments he can get away with.

…This doesn’t mean he’s just going to ignore the punishment being inflicted on their oldest and youngest brothers.

“What did you tell Draxum?” Leo asks, unable to keep a tinge or frustration from entering his tone. “So, Mikey’s been sneaking out- big whoop, I did that last week and neither of you said anything.”

“You brought us back treats!” Huginn says.

“And spots and spikes were _definitely_ talking about something they shouldn’t,” Muninn adds.

“What something?” Donnie questions, tilting his head. Leo doesn’t miss the way the semi-fused tendrils of his brother’s battle shell twitch, responding to the concealed fury Donnie is feeling.

Donnie can pretend not to care all he wants, but the apathy Leo’s brother maintains doesn’t extend to their siblings. Donnie is actually _so_ possessive (protective) of them, it’s kind of funny. Not that Leo judges him for that. The four of them are all they have in this world, it’s natural they’d be a bit territorial.

(Leo is ignoring the fact that despite the loyalty, Raph is the only one of them who ever steps up to take Draxum’s ire onto himself. But that’s fine. Raph is bigger, tougher, and can take the pain just fine. It’s fine, _totally_ fine.)

“Nothing you two wanna know,” says Muninn, swirling his little martini. “Not unless you feel like joining your brothers in the clink.”

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Leo says, crossing his arms. “In the exact words, what did you say to the Baron?”

“That Michelangelo has been sneaking out to see someone aboveground,” Huginn says lazily. “Didn’t hear who, and the kid denies it all.”

Leo relaxes slightly, because Huginn and Muninn are lying about not hearing who Mikey’s been moonlighting to see. Leo had been in his room when his brothers went by, bickering and bargaining, and he definitely heard April’s name get thrown around in hissed whispers. He’d left the area as soon as he could, to provide plausible deniability. But their gargoyle watchdogs… there’s no way they’d missed April’s name, not when it’d been synonymous with why Mikey was sneaking out.

“That’s all?” Donnie asks cautiously, clearly picking up on the subtext, too.

“Yep,” Muninn says.

“Nothing more,” Huginn agrees.

Their pairs look at each other, equal levels of suspicion and still, after all these years, _tentative_ trust. Leo knows that he and his brothers are irreplaceable to the Baron, he _can’t_ get rid of them. Huginn and Muninn on the other hand are just hired staff. Easily replaced, easily dispatched.

And yet. And yet the gargoyles have given them breaks, here and there. Turned blind eyes, edited reports to the Baron. A few times, even snuck food to anyone who’d been locked in their rooms for longer than a day.

They’re not friends, exactly, but on the occasion, they can be allies. Leo encourages that goodwill with snacks whenever he can, just to hopefully spawn a situation like this.

“Alright,” Leo says, nodding. “Thanks.”

“No problem, stripes,” Muninn says, raising his glass. They leave it at that, parting ways.

“We’re gonna check on ‘em, right?” Leo whispers to Donnie, once they’re in the hallway.

“Of course,” Donnie replies. “If only to assess what we’ll need to patch up on Raph, afterwards. You know how he gets.”

“Yeah…” Leo sighs.

“In another hour, an hour and a half at most.”

“No longer.”

“If we can.”

If they _can._ Even just an hour and a half is going to make Raph hard to wrangle. Leo’s not looking forwards to that portion of things; Raph can take damage, sure, but he can also _do_ damage. Especially to himself when he’s panicked.

“…Rock-paper-scissors for who calms him down?”

-/-

“I should have eaten you when we were babies,” Leo grouches, glaring daggers at Donnie as they delve into the basement levels.

“I think you tried to, actually,” Donnie says, a smile quirking his lips. There’s a few odder-than-usual scars here and there on his body… And to think, it’s him and Raph who are the ‘predatory’ species in the family.

“I should’ve _finished_ eating you when we were babies.”

Donnie rolls his eyes. They could have only been so lucky that Leo’s species’ cannibalistic tendencies overwhelmed Donnie’s likewise vicious instincts. Maybe then their whole experiment would have been called off and the lot of them disposed.

Mild suicidal ideation aside, Donnie takes mental count (for the fifth time) of his supplies. Three anesthetic injections, three reversal agents in correspondence. He chose to wear his spider-leg shell today, which has the option of mystic vine reinforcement should that be needed.

A flex of his claws and Donnie feels the expected foreign energy coil in his limbs. Good. That, of all his backup plans, is the most important.

Their main plan, however, does not include turning the corner and coming up short as they find someone blocking the way. The gold horns of their owner glint in the firelight and Donnie’s thoughts blank for a split second.

“Sir,” he manages, but has nothing to follow-up with.

“I had a feeling I would find you both down here,” the Baron says in a measured tone. Leo gulps a little too loudly. Draxum simply inclines his head towards a false wall to their left. “I would have expected you to at least take the backway down. I’m disappointed in you.”

Donnie grits down on the broil of his emotions- cages them, locks them up- and says, “If you expected us to do that, then doesn’t it make more sense for us to have taken the unexpected route?”

This elicits a smirk and close-lipped laugh. As planned; the right levels of snark and appeal together. “I suppose so, yes. Next time, don’t get caught doing it.”

Donnie feels Leo relax his stance slightly, always too early. It’s not over yet. He can see it in the Baron’s eyes.

“Since you’re here already, I don’t see why I should put things off any longer. Come with me; you may witness the price subject one and four will pay for continuing to lie.”

Donnie looks at his brother out of the corner of his eye. Leo is blanching, red stripes standing out brighter for it. His long claws flex, obviously wanting to flash a threat display.

Donnie surreptitiously steps on Leo’s foot. Keeping themselves _out_ of the isolation cages is the best thing they can do right now. If Leo can’t keep himself together, Donnie will do as necessary to remain in their creator’s good graces.

It’s kinder, as he prefers to think, when he’s the one to put his same-age twin in his place. Donnie never breaks bones or leaves lacerations. A prick of a needle or the restraint of vines, that’s all. It’s gentle, merciful.

(Saying this to himself makes it easier.)

Thoughts of mercy leave Donnie as they reach their destination: The Ring.

He’d expected the isolation ward; the thick stone and metal walls and looming threat of further constraints. The Ring is decidedly worse than that. Stretching in a wide diameter, walls too high for even Raph’s reach, the packed ground of the arena bears the scars of training spars… and punishment trials.

Mikey is trussed up in the center, held to a stake in all too familiar pulsing vines. He raises his head as they approach the railing, eyes sad and tired.

“Have you changed your answer?” Baron Draxum demands, voice carrying over the whole arena.

Mikey doesn’t reply. The defiant way he holds Draxum’s gaze says everything loud and clear.

“Very well,” Draxum growls. He snaps his fingers and the vines retreat from Mikey; Donnie notes his little brother has none of his usual weapons, save for a single knife on his belt.

“If the two of you are so _insistent_ in defying me, then why I should keep you from spending some more quality time together, hm?” Draxum wraps his claws around a lever in the pillar near them, a cruel smile on his face. “Subject one will be pleased to see you.”

Donnie puts the pieces together, then. Leo goes rigid and inhales sharply. Mikey, down in The Ring, goes wide eyed.

Before any of them can react beyond shared horror, the barrier of a tunnel off the arena rattles open. The shape that barrels out of the darkness lets loose a furious _roar_, reverberating through the room.

Donnie very quickly realizes they’ve been outsmarted once again. Of course, this was the plan; of course, their owner _wanted_ them to come down here of their own volition. So they could watch their brothers tear each other apart and learn the lesson to _never_ make the same mistakes as them.

“He doesn’t even get his ‘fundo?” Leo asks in a hoarse whisper, transfixed as Donnie is by the violence. Leo makes a subconscious move towards the railing, maybe to grip it, maybe to jump over- it doesn’t matter, because Draxum has Leo’s wrist in the blink of an eye.

“You will not interfere,” the Baron states. The order is defined and leaves no room for argument. They will not interfere. They will not interfere.

Mikey rolls as he evades Raph’s charge, already sporting streaks of red on his leg from where claws snagged him. Donnie is forced to watch the smallest member of their experiment desperately run, dodge, and defend fruitlessly with _one stupid knife._ The knife gets stuck in Raph shoulder and Mikey falters because he _doesn’t want to hurt Raph,_ none of them ever want to hurt each other, and Mikey is- weaker (_better_) than Donnie, he can’t go through with this.

So, Mikey falters. Raph does not.

Donnie doesn’t look away even for a second, as Raph grabs Mikey and hurls him at the wall of The Ring. The impact leaves a small crater, cracks spreading as Mikey falls forward onto his knees. A giant hand gets a grip around his neck and _finally,_ self-preservation instincts kick in and Mikey fights back.

He barely escapes, gasping and coughing as he runs. Raph is barely stunned for more than one heartbeat to the next, shaking off the kick to the temple and giving chase, howling rabidly.

On an even field, with proper weapons, or less damn _affection_, Mikey could hold his own, take down the thoughtless berserker Raph has become. But this isn’t an even playing field, Mikey has no weapons, and he’s not nearly heartless enough to seriously hurt their brother.

“Mikey- Mikey just surrender!” Leo yells, unable hold himself back any longer. He doesn’t notice the way Donnie’s vines snap out and grab him, straining to the edge and yelling louder. “_Let him win, he’ll stop if he thinks you’re-”_

Donnie flinches at the sharp noise of a slap. Leo recoils and shuts up, giving into the vines as Donnie pulls him away, winding around him for his own god damn safety. Their owner gives Leo a very, very heavy glare.

“You will not interfere until I say, and if I need to tell you that again I _will_ extend their punishment to you. Is that _clear?”_

Donnie asks the vines linked directly into his nerves to gently squeeze Leo’s hand. They do. Leo nods and quietly says, “Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll keep him in line,” Donnie promises, emotionless.

“See that you do, subject two.”

They stand, frozen in silence. Until the Baron decides the punishment is sufficient. Until Mikey is lying motionless on the ground, bleeding in a dozen places. Until Draxum walks away and then it’s just the three of them and the savage creature their kindly eldest has turned into.

“Switch targets,” Donnie orders as they vault the railing. The childish game they played means nothing now; Donnie has the means to take down Raph, so he will. Leo will take care of Mikey.

Raph reacts to the hostiles entering his ‘territory’ and abandons the battered form of their little brother. Leo’s sword slices the air and he disappears into a flash of blue magic. Donnie extends his bo and flicks it in the motion needed to activate a feature.

The rocket assisted strike sends Raph veering off course and into a messy wipeout. Leo is gathering Mikey’s too-small body close to himself and then they’re gone, headed to the infirmary no doubt. Donnie is relieved.

He has no fear of his older brother. Not as he is presently, not ever. Not since their creator saw his genius, but the way his body failed him, and offered a _solution._

Donnie uses his bo to flip over Raph mid-charge and collapses it in a smooth motion as he lands, balancing on the sharp spines of the shell. The energy in his arms answers his command- drawing tendrils of magic infused plants around his scales, forming into gauntlets with razor claws. It takes a moment to position himself, and to avoid being bucked off or slammed into a wall- and then Donnie lunges at his brother’s vulnerable neck.

The needlepoint claws sink into the rough hide of a mutant snapper, plunging the three shots of specially created anesthetic directly into the blood stream.

Raph screeches. Donnie viciously clings as his brother leads an aimless dash across the arena, waiting, waiting, and- there, Raph begins to stumble, falling to all fours. Donnie makes short work of restraining him before he can do any further damage to himself.

The horror show finally grinds to a halt, with Raph panting raggedly on his side and Donnie monitoring his pulse. The level of drugs coursing through his brother’s veins is enough to drop an elephant; he’d had to inject all of the anesthetic in order to get even this far. Adrenaline and a panic induced dissociative state complicates everything.

“…Don…nie?”

He looks over. The hooded gaze of someone about to pass out is what he sees on his brother’s face. He looks befuddled, and is saddened by that.

“Wh… happened?” Raph slurs. His eyes move slowly to focus on their surroundings, and Donnie doesn’t answer. Raph gradually processes where they are, as well as the fact that Donnie has him restrained. The dawning grief is somehow far worse than the hurt confusion.

“Where’s Mikey?” Raph asks.

Donnie finally answers. “Leo has him,” he says, calm and collected and unaffected by the tears Raph blinks away.

“_Fuck,”_ Raph says, eyes squeezing shut. He curls on himself, as much as he’s able with his slowed reflexes and restrained limbs. “Fuck, I- I did it again, didn’t I? I don’t- I don’t remember. I- I tried, to hold on, but- but he said I wasn’t gonna be let out f-for a _week,_ and-”

He’s started trembling. This is counterproductive to the minor surgery Donnie is preforming on his formerly impaled shoulder. It does not make his heart feel like it’s suffered the same wound.

“Mikey will be fine,” Donnie says, and asks his vines to strengthen their hold on Raph. Inspired by past conversations, post-panic attacks, he adds, “We don’t blame you. You know that.”

“Should’a left me in the cell, should’a let me _rot,”_ Raph rambles, hiccuping as he cries. “Should’ve- should’ve let Mikey kill-”

Donnie tunes him out. Focuses on the precise stitches to close up the knife wound. He’s done in a respectably short period of time, pulling off his gloves after tossing the used gauze away to be dealt with later. The clinical simplicity of the procedure drains away far too soon for his liking.

He’s left with the disaster he’s sat in the wake of. Raph is drifting in and out of unconsciousness, still resistant to even their most powerful sedation. Donnie deems it safe to withdraw his vines and administer the reversal agent; Raph is himself again and the wound is dressed.

He doesn’t feel as surprised as he wishes to be, when Raph’s eyes flutter open and he hoarsely begs Donnie to give them back, keep his arms and legs pinned, keep _him_ from being a danger to them all, please, Don, _please._

It makes a filthy, painful feeling thread itself around Donnie’s heart, winding lax coils back around his brother’s wrists and ankles. Raph quiets, whispering _thank you,_ and crying all over again.

It’s terrible. All because of one human, one stupid, thoughtless human who doesn’t know what she’s messing with or what she’s messing up. All because of _her,_ this happened.

Donnie sits and swallows his raging thoughts. He channels it into plotting the future. Raph is going to lock himself in his room and go off his meals, refusing contact or comfort for as long as it takes them to break his self-loathing spell. Mikey is going to hide his limping and stick all the closer to Raph’s side, determined to fight the subtle tremor in his hands, determined to repent for the pain he caused with his selfishness. Leo will conveniently always be nearby the two of them, one lazy eye open, ōdachi slung across his shell and gleaned to a perfect edge. To protect their siblings, from others and themselves.

Donnie asks himself where he factors into that plan. Obviously, he’ll make sure Raph and Mikey heal correctly. He’ll continue the assigned experiment trials Draxum gives him. He’ll keep the Baron focused on work, rather than the others. And after all that, when things have calmed down…

Well, the last thing to be taken care of is the reason behind everything. Mikey’s secret human pet or not, Donnie will do what needs to be done to ensure their collective safety.

Maybe Mikey won’t ever go looking for her again. Maybe Donnie will escape being hated by his little brother. He’s never been content with maybes, though.

Raph rouses, halfway out of a nightmare by the sounds of it. He makes aborted movements to grasp something, whimpering. Donnie finds himself moving closer, letting Raph’s head rest against his thigh.

“It’s okay,” Donnie lies softly. “You’re okay, Raph. Go back to sleep. It’ll be better after you rest.”

His brother settles, slipping under once more. Donnie sighs, and allows himself to lean against the edge of Raph’s shell, minding the sharper points.

The ground is hardly a comfortable place for them to stay, but it’s not like Donnie can easily move his mountain of a sibling without Leo’s portals. So, until Leo finishes… attending to Mikey (Donnie does _not_ think about how he hasn’t gotten an all-clear text from Leo yet), they’ll have to wait patiently. Easier to do so when you’re asleep; Donnie almost envies Raph for the nap.

Almost.

Gently petting Raph’s head, whenever he drifts too close to waking, Donnie bides his time and mulls over his thoughts. Waiting for relief. Waiting for his chance to rectify things.

A small voice says _dad wouldn’t want you to do this,_ which Donnie crushes, thinking venomously that who _cares_ what dad would have wanted, dad is _dead,_ and the dead don’t care about anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: domestic abuse, dehumanization, violence, mild suicide ideation, injury description, & dark themes.
> 
> uhhh yeah, some fun stuff in angst town! inspired by the whole swack of new info about the boys' origins + draxum's motives and resources in canon. i'm in a sad space rn with my life so i went and wrote about people even worse feeling than me. hope yall enjoyed.

**Author's Note:**

> i'll come back to this au at some point and build on it, but for now i'll leave it marked as a finished work. subscribe if you wanna be in the know when i update!
> 
> thanks for reading, and find me on tumblr @ onthespectrumwriting.


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